A Queen By Blood and A Queen By Fate
by Selonianth
Summary: A young japanese girl shows up outside Slayer HQ one day asking to be let in.
1. Requesting A Meeting

Disclaimer: Don't own Blood+ or Buffy, Asuka Katsura and Joss Whedon respectively.

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Saya stared up at the foreboding gates with a sigh as she reached for the buzzer beside it. She wasn't nervous, not for her own sake anyway. There were those who would seek to exploit her nieces and she couldn't protect them without exposing chiropterans to the world, a world that was just not ready to hear they weren't the top of the food-chain afterall. Especially since there were others who might be found out if chiropterans were revealed and the world was even less ready for that discussion.

The buzzer sounded off before a woman's voice filled the air, "Yes?"

"I'm here to speak with a Buffy Summers, I don't have an appointment but I need to speak with her," Saya replied, nerves steady as the rock under her feet, her nieces were the ones at stake and she would not fail them as she had her sister. Red Shield could only protect them by hiding them.

"May I ask what this is about?" The femal voice questioned.

"My family's protection." Saya answered.

"Your family is in no danger from anyone here unless they have done something wrong," the voice responded.

Saya was getting annoyed she managed to keep her eyes from lighting but only barely. "Didn't say they were, now tell your queen that she is needed," the chiropteran queen ordered, power beginning to slide into her voice. Not enough to be inhuman as if Haji had tried it, but enough to sound authoritative.

A moment of silence then, "She'll be waiting for you at the door."

Saya gave an inward sigh of relief and stepped through the gate as it clicked and swung open automatically, swinging closed again once the chiropteran queen was on the other side. Walking purposefully to the manor she knew housed the ICS, better known to those in the know as Slayer HQ, Saya knocked on the large redwood doors.

The door swung open and Saya found herself looking down a couple inches for once at a green eyed blonde she was sure was Buffy Summers. This wasn't as much a surprise as it was a novelty. Saya had heard the queen slayer was just under 5'5" but having spent so much time with people who were so tall that actually being taller for once, even though it was only a three inch gap, was new.

"So you're the one who intimidated one of my mini's over the comm system," Buffy mused as she stepped aside to let Saya in.

Saya smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that, I just really need to talk with you and she was in my way."

Buffy waved her hand in dismissal of the offense, "Don't worry about it, my... sister overheard the discussion and said the mini was being rudely dismissive, if someone turns up asking for us they're supposed to tell us, not argue whether or not you actually need us. So, what did you come here for? She mentioned something about protection for your family." Those weren't the exact words Faith had used but she was paraphrasing.

"Yes, I'm unaware if you can sense it or not but I'm not human. Neither are my nieces."

Buffy nodded, her slaydar able to detect her visitor as non-human, though she couldn't tell what she was, nothing she'd fought before at any rate, "We have an agreement with every government in the U.N. They leave demons to us."

Saya nearly growled, surprised at her own reaction to being called a demon, "That might be helpful. If we were demons, and I would appreciate not being compared to them again. I am, to my knowledge, the only adult of my kind alive. We are called chiropterans and we are a natural predator, not unnatural as the demons are."

"Predators of who?"

Saya winced inwardly. just because she didn't actively hunt them didn't mean she wasn't a predator of, "Humans." The slayer beside her froze but didn't move to attack so the chiropteran queen continued, "Technically. The best my friends have been able to work out is that my race evolved in a natural effort to reduce human numbers and almost two hundred years ago our species finally finished it's evolution when myself and my twin sister were born. I don't feed off humans and my sister is... I killed her to stop her, but that's a long story for another time."

Buffy's eyes softened, whatever the girl beside her was the slayer could tell the story behind her sister's death sucked beyond the telling of it.

Before Buffy could offer condolences however Saya spoke again, "One of the reasons my sister had to die is because some people in the american government tried to use her blood to scare people into calling them in because they would have had the only viable counter to what would be unleashed. It might have worked if they hadn't been betrayed by a man my sister thought loved her. You know the opera house that exploded a couple years ago? They bombed it to hide their involvement but my sister was already dead, and I wanted to be too, I didn't think chiropterans deserved to exist but Haji..."

Buffy could hear the heartbreak in the japanese girl's voice and knew, "He talked you down then died, probably in some stupidly heroic way right?" Buffy smiled at Saya's reaction, "Call it a lucky guess. Now come on, let's talk about that protection."


	2. The Story Comes Out

Despite being surrounded by supernatural predators that hunted other supernatural creatures Buffy noticed how at ease Saya was. It could be because of not knowing slayer capabilities but that idea rang somewhat hollow, Saya wasn't rudely dismissive, she simply wasn't worried.

Casting her eyes across the conference room to Faith she received a clueless shrug, Faith couldn't figure it out either. Buffy shook her head, bringing herself back to the matter at hand. Learning about their potential charge. "So, Saya, what can you tell us about yourself," Buffy asked gently, and about a race of semi-vampires no one ever told me about..

The young, in appearance, Japanese girl smiled, taking everyone in the room off guard at just how... unworried their guest was, normally even supernatural allies got nervous this close to this many slayers much less a guest more than one slayer wanted to kill because of her self professed status as a predator of humanity, "It would be helpful to know what you know. Then I may fill in the blanks."

It was a reasonable request, Buffy looked to Giles, still head watcher, and Dawn, his assistant despite Buffy's repeated attempts to get her to find a different line of work. Giles cleared his throat and examined the papers he held, "I'm afraid we know very little actually. Our records show that our people discovered an unusual body they believed to be a demon being delivered to a chateau in France."

Not an eye in the room missed the involuntary bristling Saya did at the word demon. Still, Giles continued uninterupted, "The council at the time was unable to prevent the de- body," he corrected mid word as Saya tensed again, interesting reaction, "from being delivered and instead sent a man to infiltrate the chateau as a servant. He was able to report that two cocoons had been pulled from the... body's womb. There is a short gap of minimal information as they were kept under wraps before out of nowhere a reddish brown eyed baby was brought to the manor. A baby with severe anemia that he suspected was a child of the body he'd been sent to find."

Saya nodded as if nothing enexpected was known so far and Giles continued, "There is no real information after that. The baby, I assume was you, grew until shortly after her twentieth birthday, afterwhich she was frozen in time, never aging a day. Then in June of 1888 the reports stopped with no explanation. A team was sent but discovered only the burned ruins of the chateau. I was hoping you could fill us in on the rest."

Saya closed her eyes, that was a day of regret in so many ways. "Your guy got one thing right. There were two cocoons. My sister... identical twin except for eye color, cracked her cocoon just after I did. Joel, the man you were unable to take my mother from, was a scientist you see, so he devised an experiment... he split us up. That... bastard raised me as a normal girl and my sister... she was locked in a tower and experimented on. I didn't even know my sister existed till I was fifty years old." Saya paused for a moment, lost in memory and oblivious to the looks of pity, not that she'd have appreciated being pitied if she had. Only two gazes held another emotion. Giles and Buffy locked eyes and frowned. They'd known people like the initiative had existed before but it still made them angry that people would do these things with someone they couldn't understand, not really. They were almost so distracted they missed Saya resuming.

"A few days before Joel's birthday I heard singing as I walked through the forest. Being naturally curious I explored to find the source. It was my sister, only I didn't know that at the time, and she had no name, so I gave her one, Diva," Saya began again.

Dawn gasped, "The singer who was going to take the world by storm."

Saya nodded, "My sister... she was so beautiful. She looked just like me, our healing factor eliminating any scars she might have had. Of course, I didn't learn that for a couple more days when I found the key to her cell, I didn't know I could just break it at the time. I was called away by Haji... my friend, and was unable to keep my promise to her that I would be her friend. Later, as he was climbing a cliff to get a stupid flower for me to give to the bastard, Haji fell... I saved him but he was eternally bound to me after that. When we got back to the manor... it was in flames and there was Diva, looking every inch my twin, draining Joel dry. So began the hundred and twenty year war of two queens. Ending in that opera house."

Killing Angel had been hard enough. Killing Dawn, even if she was a big bad, even if it was to save the world from her... "There's more to the story. You loved Diva too much to kill her without a plan for after."

Saya nodded, "The only way to kill a chiropteran queen is with the blood of her twin. When we fought we impaled each other with swords coated in our blood, not because she had matched me, she was a singer not a swordswoman while I was classically trained and had talent besides, we drew because I believed the world would be a better place without us. Things didn't go according to plan, she died, I didn't."

"If you don't mind me asking, do you know why?" Dawn, ever curious, couldn't help but ask.

Saya nodded, "When my sister became pregnant her body turned her blood's potency to zero to prevent her from killing her own daughters. Whether or not it would have eventually returned... I don't know. I do know my nieces are all I have left of my sister. I will do whatever it takes to keep them safe." Saya spoke drawing surprised looks at the vehemence of the vow from three quarters of the room and a nod of respect and agreement from Buffy.

Dawn stared in shock at her sister, she knew Buffy would protect her vehemently but her nod surprised the vessel of the key, "Buffy..."

"You know Dawn, during the Glory debacle Giles suggested killing you. Said you aren't really my sister and do you know how I replied? I told the entire magic box that if they hurt a hair on your head that I would kill them myself, and I meant it," Buffy responded her voice solid and sure.

"Family is family no matter the blood but blood is blood and it's always about the blood," Saya spoke, unknowingly quoting a certain bleach blond british vampire.

Buffy stood from her spot at the table, "These two," she paused to point out the two minis in the room, "Will stay here for your own protection while we talk about your story."

Saya shrugged, she didn't need the two minis for protection but Buffy had no way to know that. She hadn't discussed her abilities and if it made them feel better, whether they were guarding her or keeping an eye on her, so be it.


	3. Deciding The Move

Buffy stood with Faith, Dawn, and Giles in a nearby room. Buffy was almost glad Xander was away, some of the minis were dissenting enough about the admitted predator of humans being in HQ unstaked and they didn't need the minis to gain steam if he made a comment. Willow on the other hand she wished was there but as that would bring Kennedy, by far the most belligerent of the minis with the chosen two, perhaps Willow's absence was a blessing.

"Opinions?" was Buffy's only question.

"Can't say I like the part about this Joel guy B. She's not mystical but if her story is accurate it had a very similar outcome to what could have happened with Walsh, even has military involvement," Faith answered first, "My opinion to her personally is she is way calm considering she knew enough about us both to know you got monikered. Girl is either stupid or deadly on her own so why does she need us?"

The group thought for a moment, when the silence was broken it was by Buffy, "The military, she's worried that the military will try and take her nieces from her."

Faith frowned, "What does she think we can do? She's rather vehement, revolted about it even, that she isn't one of ours, what does she expect from us?"

Dawn sighed, "The president is a friend, she might expect us to tell him to get the military away from her and her family that way. Or she might just expect us to lie and say she is ours. I don't really see us being able to turn her away however we protect her family. Do you?"

The general consensus was no, they couldn't. Path decided they went back to the room Saya waited in, finding her staring out the window. That didn't stop her from knowing they were there as she spoke, "So?"

"We'll help, first though I have one question. Why are you so calm in a building full of people designed to kill supernatural creatures?"

Saya smiled, visible in the window's glass, "First, because I can't afford to fail and I will not. Second," Saya suddenly blurred and was directly in front of Buffy, just outside the blonde's strike radius, "because there isn't a person here who can keep up, much less kill me."

Faith gave a low whistle, "You want a job? Might be nice to be the one who can't keep up for once."

Saya's eyes widened at the question.

"Faith!" Buffy yelped.

"What?" Faith pouted, looking for all the world as if snow wouldn't melt in her mouth.

Buffy sighed, waving her hand at the two they'd left with Saya before, "Minis, go train." Watching them go she turned back to Saya, "You know she was hitting on you right?"

Saya blushed but nodded. "There were several lesbians in Okinawa, the place I lived in most recently, they always teased me like that after I got done with track."

Sighing Buffy shook her head, "Before you try and drag her to bed like cave-Faith, could we finish our discussion first? As Faith said, we'll help, the question is how do you want that help? We can tell the president the truth and hope he sides with us, we wouldn't have a way to stop them if he didn't though. We can give you a job and protect you that way, they would happily stay away as long as you work here..."

"But would swoop in if I ever stopped," Saya finished getting a nod from the queen slayer. "The last option?"

"We tell an editted version of the truth. You're a sentient, non-inherrently violent, preternatural creature. We switch preternatural with supernatural and the government will back away so fast the Earth's rotation might change," Dawn answered with a grin. "The people responsible for the deal and such might even be fired in disgrace. It's the best option for us too, they see another project involving the supernatural that nearly destroyed the world and they'll send us a message anytime anything remotely out of the ordinary happens."

"I think that's our option then, as long as I don't get called a demon." Saya responded with a smile.

"Due to the negative connotations of the word we've been attempting to find a more accurate word anyway," Giles spoke, "I'll go call the president to start the ball rolling. Buffy, you know he'll want to meet with you over it."

Buffy grumbled but turned, motioning Saya to follow her, "Come on, need to intro you to the minis and I for one need food."

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A/N: For those of you who don't know the difference between preternatural and supernatural here it is. Preternatural is something that has rational reasons it works, we just don't know them. Supernatural however has no rational reason it works, it simply does.


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